Days 1 & 2 - Kirtland OH and Erie, PA

Days 1 & 2 - Kirtland to Boston - July/August 2024
July 24th & 25th, 2024 - Kirtland, OH & Erie, PA

Wednesday, July 24, 2024 - Day 01

We left our house in St George at noon and drove 2 hours to Las Vegas. 

Our trip was 10 days, so we took advantage of the free parking at the South Strip Transit Terminal parking lot, It was a 10 minute bus ride to the Las Vegas airport. This was the boy's first taste of public transportation.

Our direct flight to Cleveland, OH departed at 3:30 PM and we arrived around 10:30 PM.

We took the shuttle to the rental car pickup and selected a family friendly Blue Hyundai Tucson! We drive another 20 minutes to our hotel, a Comfort Inn in Mayfield Heights.

Thursday, July 25, 2024 - Day 02

We ate breakfast at the hotel and headed towards Kirtland. Before reaching the temple and historic town square, we drove to the Stannard Quarry at the Chapin Forest Reservation. This is where they extracted stone from the quarry for the Kirtland temple. They hauled it 2 miles by wagon to the temple site.

Afterwards, an on our way to the temple site, we also stopped at the Kirtland Cemetery where Joseph Smith Sr.'s mother, Hyram Smith's wife and daughter, and Joseph and Emma's twins were buried. 

We also stopped at Old South Church built in 1859. It had an outdoor revival spot. Its original bell, now on display, was constructed from Civil War metal.

We arrived at Kirtland Temple visitors center and took a missionary guided toured the temple. 

The original round window to the temple

In the back room on the top floor of the temple where Joseph did much of his work. His black desk is in the room, but we didn't get a picture of it.

Upper assembly hall (2nd floor)

Lower assembly hall (1st floor)

We traveled just down the street to the other side of the temple and past the graveyard and visited Joseph and Emma's home in Kirtland. We also saw Joseph's General store across the street from their house, and the graveyard next to the temple. 

The Kirtland Historic village was just a short distance down the road from the temple. The main road used to run right by the Newell K Whitney store, and the city had plans to redevelop the area with strip malls many years ago, but the church paid to move the road, purchase the land and place it under historical protection. Here we saw the Newell K. Whitney house and store, the sawmill and the ashery.

Newel K Whitney's house, and in the grassy area, the original site of the Whitney Red brick store.

In the Kitchen that Joseph and Emma used while they stayed with the Whitney's when they first arrived in Kirtland.

Room where the first School of the prophets was held

We then walk a hundred or so yards over to the historically reconstructed ashery and sawmill.

Owned by Newel K Whitney, wood ash was processed with alkalinized water and made into potash refined even more in kilns to make refined pearl ash. It was used in making glass, in cleaning wool, and in other industrial processes. Newel K. Whitney would pay locals $0.25 per bucket of ash in cash, or in credit at this store, which was a huge boom to the local economy of pioneer settlers. He shipped most of these chemicals in large barrels to factories in the East or Great Britain.

The sawmill played an important role in the construction of the temple.

After visiting Historic Kirtland we drive a few miles out to the Morley farm. Isaac and Lucy Morley built a home for Joseph and Emma Smith on their farm. It became a place of revelation and prophecy. Today, none of the original building exist and the house that is there is privately owned, so we didn't take any pictures.

On our way out of the Kirtland area, we drove to Squire’s Castle, an old 1890 gatehouse modeled after German and English castles. We ate lunch here (sandwiches and veggies, chips). Built in the 1920s by Edward Squire, an oil entrepreneur, as a gatehouse to a larger estate, which never happened. Due to tax issues, his entire estate of 525 acres became part of the Cleveland Metropark, a 25,000 acre reserve and public recreation system. The basement was filled in and the upper story was taken out for the safety of the public. Today it is just a shell, but its medieval-style architecture and partially ruined state have made it a popular local landmark.

We walked around this park and explored the castle then got in the car and drove to Erie PA, about an hour drive

Erie PA – Splash Lagoon and Comfort Inn. We spent the rest of the day, from about 3 to 8, at the indoor waterpark. Lots of slides, a wave pool, lazy river, and our favorite – a body surfing simulator. It was a lot of fun. For dinner we grabbed some takeout at Bob Evans – chicken, biscuits, and salad. The Comfort Inn was attached to the Splash Lagoon and we were able to walk through to the waterpark and hotel. We spent the night here. It had a king bed and a queen bed.  Very roomy.